Job scam quick guide: it's a scam if...

they want you to collect and forward money in any way (a "money mule" job). You'll wind up engaged in money laundering, personally defrauded via expertly forged cheques, money orders, etc, or defrauding someone else who pays for goods that never arrive.

they want you to receive packages and reship them somewhere else. The goods will have been obtained fraudulently, and they're just using you to make the shipping address appear local. You will be aiding fraud.

they want up-front payment (either to them or someone else) of any sort for anything before you can get the job. This is advance fee fraud: there is no job -- it's just a big con to extract money from you.

they want you to buy any kind of "membership" or "kit" in order to start. Forget it -- it's not a real job at all: they're trying to sell you something, and they're probably making a bunch of other false claims about it if they're pitching it as a "job".

it's a job offer, and it's spam. There are LOTS of these scams about, as you can see.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Typical money mule scam targeting Australians, which invariably means the job involves receiving fraudulent bank transfers and forwarding money via Western Union. This message included white-on-white hashbuster text at the end of the message -- a technique last seen in the Green Tree scam, so I suspect this is the same scam under a new name.

---------- Forwarded message ----------From: Global Union <[redacted (false, random)]>Date: 2008/5/27 UTCSubject: Work from home anytime and get paid for it (Up to 1000$/week) To: [redacted (privacy)]

HIRING NOW, Full Time/Part Time,

Paid training provided. The most remarkable thing about this position is that anyone can make money with it. It doesn't require any special skills, training, education or previous business experience. You only need access to the Internet and basic typing skills. It is the perfect work at home job for stay at home moms, students, home makers, retirees or anyone that is in need of some extra cash.

Requirements

Applicants must be 18years of age or over, Australian citizen or resident. No previous experience is necessary...full paid training is available if required.

Company Overview

Work from home with Global Union: Stay-at-home parent, part-timers, and entrepreneurs. You can start working with us, by either working full time or part time. We are a service based company, so there are no products, no inventory, no parties, no cold calling. In addition, our company will pay you while you train working for us.

Experience in internet is not necessary. We invest time and money on you so please, only people that are serious and are willing to work minimum of 10 hours a week or more need request an interview. For more information about starting working for us, please click on the tab below, and to request an interview, leave your full contact details on our website. This is a legitimate employment position and is not multilevel and does not require an upfront payment or deposits. To find out more and apply for an interview please visit:

Lifetime Residual Income No Major Investments Save Money! No Commuting… Step By Step Training Unlimited Monthly Income Daily Pay Direct deposit available No cold calling No selling to friends and family

This business is giving regular people like stay at home mom/parent, school bus drivers, fast food workers, and construction workers an opportunity to out perform Executive salaries!!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Many thanks to A.C. for sending me this. At first glance, it looks like a typical money mule scam, but on closer investigation it appears to be an atypically nasty case. Most money mule scams deal in fraudulent direct bank transfers (from phishing) or forged cheques and money orders, but this one appears to be part of a credit card fraud gang. The amount of work involved in this scam is quite significant: they want you to set up a company and open a merchant account. I downloaded their FAQ document into Google docs for posterity, so see for yourself what's involved. To me it looks an awful lot like the mind-blowing organised credit card fraud operation documented by MGD, only this time the cover story is a software company, not web templates or e-books.

The website operated by this scam is quite slick -- it appears to have been ripped off from ELEKS Software.

I have found the following domain names used in association with this scam so far. All are relatively recent registrations. There may well be others.

Our company was started back in 1991 and presently is in Top 50 leaders of Eastern European Market of software development and IT sourcing.

Currently, InfoBite Software

energetically looking into embracing online market of Europe, and in order to achieve it we require a reliable partner Sales Representative in United States.

The duties of our partner in US will consist of simply organization of the marketing schemes of our products [Scheme has been already created and simply required to be executed]

The uniqueness of the ensuing project is that 99% of sales is designed for the website, which will present whole specter of company products.

At the moment the advertising budget has been already formed and the website is consists of our goods

rough salary for Sales Representative is $1,500-2,500 a month or 10% in commissions from each sale.

If you are interested in this proposition, you can complete an application form, peruse the FAQ section on this position, and then our HR Director Nataliya Shpankova will get in touch with you to talk about further details.

Fill out the application form and see more information on our proposal [FAQ], you can here:

Typical money mule job -- probably involves receiving direct bank transfers (fraudulent) and forwarding cash via Western Union. The name "ARX Finance" is probably made up -- any similarity with any real company is either coincidental or a deliberate smokescreen.

ARX Finance is announcing new job propositions in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada and EU. There are no professional requirements. Your commitment to the job, readiness to fulfill the required tasks on time and with good quality, honesty and responsibility are the basic recruitment criteria.

ARX Finance, founded in 1999, has a number of affiliates all over Eastern Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The company is mainly engaged in providing the clients with selling and reselling services, auction support, administrative support provision by the sellers all over the world aimed at sales facility potential growth.

The position available at this period is Administrative Assistant. It provides:

* Being attentive to company's information and instructions * Honesty and responsibility * fluent English * age 21 or older * legal status of a resident in the territory of the USA/Australia/New Zealand/EU.

Feel free to e-mail us for more information(please attach your resume):

Monday, May 26, 2008

A search on one of the associated phone numbers shows that this particular scam has been advertised under many different names, but all seem to end in "Textiles Industry Ltd". The "Textiles" cover story is inordinately popular with these scammers: do a search in my archives for that term, and see what I mean. It appears that this particular scam is targeting the USA, and the scam in question involves banking forged checks and forwarding money via Western Union or Money Gram.

My Name is Sean Roberts, I am a Texan Working in London, I want to know if You would like to work online from home and get paid without affecting your present job? Actually i need a representative who can be working for our company as online book-keeper. We make lots of supplies to some of our clients in the states for which i do come to the states to receive payment and have it cashed after i supply them raw materials.

Its always too expensive and stressful for me to come to the states and receive such payment twice in a month so i therefore decided to contact you. I am willing to pay you 10% for every payment received by you from our clients who makes payment through you. Please note you don't have to be a book keeper to apply for the job. Kindly Get back to me as soon as possible if you are interested in this Job offer with your

ATTESTATION According to how you have been briefed earlier by a qualified representative of this establishment. You are required and mandated to receive payment on behalf of the above mentioned firm. You are to deduct10% of all funds processed on a particular order and forward the balance payment via Western Union Money Transfer and MONEY GRAM to any of "MILAND PHILIP " Group regional warehouses that will be given to you later.

You will notify the company a week ahead if eventually you want to discontinue this job so as to terminate all payment coming your way to avoid conflict. PLS SEND REPLY ASAP TO (sean.roberts 88@gmail.com)

Thursday, May 22, 2008

This is a scam, probably West African Advance Fee Fraud. If so, then the company and the job are fabrications -- lies told in order to trick victims into paying bogus fees. Clear indications that this is a scam include (a) the fact that it it spam, (b) the UK +4470 telephone number which can be forwarded anywhere in the world, (c) the extensive use of freemail addresses such as myway.com, and (d) the fact that it's a petroleum company -- my archives are littered with this exact same scam carried out under a whole bunch of different oil company names.

ENTITLEMENT, BENEFITS AND PACKAGES: . A very attractive net salary paid in US$, Sterling or Euros quivalent depending on employee home country and currency preference with annual salary review. . Quality single or family housing accommodation in company community. . Free medical/dental care in UNITED KINGDOM for employee. . Excellent educational assistance benefits with family status employment. . Paid airfares allowing full flexibility with holiday travel. . Personal effects shipment and excess baggage allowances. . Full access to some of the finest and social recreational facilities in UNITED KINGDOM. . Life Insurance and Paid vacation. . Official vehicle/Maximum security in work environment and housing community. . Applicants are to provide him/her self with visa processing documents while the company help for getting the visa and all other necessary travelling documents that will enable him/her to come over to his job community (here) though one assurance we can prove is that we can stand in favour of your name and appologise to the British council in your area to assist you to make sure that visa and all the travelling documents are issue to you smoothly.

This is one of the usual money mule scams where they send you bad money (forged cheques, fraudulent bank transfers) and ask you to send back good, unrecoverable money (usually Western Union or similar). "Financial Times Business" sounds like the name of a newspaper, but it's just something the scammers have made up, and any resemblance to any real company (or newspaper, for that matter) is probably coincidental.The concept of "Financial Times Business" seems to have been ripped off from FTBusiness.com, a website which appears to be perfectly legitimate. Scammers often impersonate reputable businesses in this manner. These scammers are using a range of HR-themed Gmail addresses, which is a modus operandi I've seen before (such as the Shamrock scam).

We have a vacant position &#8220;Private client manager&#8221; in our team and will be glad to have you work with us. This is part-time job (2-3 hours a day, except holidays) and the position provides support filling the transactions of our customers. This is a new kind of financial and banking services. We deal exclusively with private clients with special requirements for high speed of receiving funds for their business .

Your work would be basic at first , yet thorough - you will make transfers for our clients to suit their needs. Our mangers will assist you during the trial period and explain everything you will need to know. We offer a competitive salary: for the first month you will get $ 2000 for your work, the next month your salary will be increased if you do your work responsible and on time.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

This is a typical money mule job involving receipt of fraudulent bank transfers and sending cash via Western Union or similar. I've received several of these, all using the sender name "Diana Finchett", but a range of falsified email addresses. They are requesting responses to various addresses in the domain "hr-westpointfinances.com", about which WHOIS reports the following.

Hello there, Would you be interested in a home based job with a dynamic global company that may reward you with up to AUD 2, 500-3, 500 per month? No "envelope stuffing" nonsense, no start up charges, this is a straightforward offer. No need to give up your present career; it will only take a small part of your time. The only things you need to have to start running your business with our company are your decency and willingness to earn. The job is transaction handling. The job is pretty simple and you won't need any special knowledge to start, though we do require that you are able to act on a very short notice. We pay decent salary AND commissions because we keep our customers happy with our swiftness. And if you are looking for career there's a chance of becoming a part of our team in the future (based on your performance), team in which you will be truly respected and honestly rewarded - just think about this! We hope to hear from you soon. Please e-mail back [various]@hr-westpointfinances.com and we will be glad to provide more information. Thank you, Diana Finchett Placement Manager HR Administrative Operations and Support Department WestPoint Finances Ltd.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

At a guess, this is a payment processing scam which involves cashing forged checks. On the other hand, it may be a payment processing scam which involves receiving fraudulent bank transfers. To clear this up, I've written to them requesting further information. If they write back with anything useful, I'll post a comment about it.

Hello. We would like to offer you this employment opportunity in CoolCarChip International company. This is a good chance for you to find the job you like. We have various positions all over US. If you satisfy all our requirements you are welcome to send us your resume/CV for our consideration. You will receive our motivated decision within 1-2 days. Hurry up, this job opportunity is limited.

Requirements and skills:

Higher Education/College

Sales/Management (desired but optional)

Strong communicative skills

MS Office installed (MS Word)

U.S. citizenship

Adult age

This is original e-mail letter from CoolCarChip Int. This is not any kind of: MLM, scam, spam. We will never ask you to provide any kind of investments.

Monday, May 12, 2008

This is just another typical money mule scam, probably Russian (or close by), in which Australians are being targeted. In truth, the money sent to the "transfer manager" is stolen from other online bank accounts, and the process of forwarding it via Western Union is money laundering. If you have signed up, do not forward any money sent to you, but rather contact your bank and inform them that the transaction is suspicious.

This email contains offer about remote work. General requirements: - 18-60 years old - live in Australia or in another country from our site's country list - cell phone - bank account with any bank - accuracy, responsibility and fast tasks execution - 1-2 free hours per day Description: Our company is over 4 years on the electonic transfers market and we have developed own system of financial transaction for the Third World countries. For all less-developed countries we recruit employees from forehanded countries such Australia. The most perspective position is transfer's manager. It is not important if you work or unemployed. The main thing is that you can visit your bank, Western Union brach or our Sidney's office during the working day. Please register on our website. After all your information is checked, your personal manager will contact you to specify the kind of your work in your region. About us: UFG Finance was founded by Georgio Lacheni, Italian millionaire. He was the first person who announced to community that financial market can make the best profit in less-developed countries. Fast Transfer System works since 2004 and more than 3 millions of transactions completed. Our business is completely legal in international laws. We can provide you with online access to our support site. You'll able to manage your account 24 hours per day just using your cell phone. Info: Sorry for any inconvience if you haven't required this email and it was detected as spam. Unfortunally, not all advertising companies on the internet use legal methods of advertising.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

This spam claims to be from a West African recruitment agency. Please bear in mind that West Africa is the world capital of Advance Fee Fraud, where you are conned into sending money for something that ultimately never materialises.

Vacancies are available for these categories of listed worker's immediately in CANADA, U.S.A..

Our service/handling charge is moderate and negotiable for getting the visa and all other necessary travelling document's for the candidate's including accomodation and transportion up till destination.

In case your company is interested in any of the vacancies mentioned above, pls. do not hesitate to contact us.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Although it's not made obvious by the sales pitch, I'm willing to bet that this job scam is a money mule scam in which the employee receives direct bank transfer payments (from compromised Internet banking accounts) and is asked to forward them by Western Union (or similar). That seems to be the only kind of job scam ever targeted specifically at Australians.

Hello. My name is Gerry Bristol, I represent Gerry Bristol Inc company. We need representatives in Australia for full and part-time jobs (2 positions are available). We do not ask for any money, we are reputable company operating in Sweden and Finland. You will get: - 5000 USD guaranteed monthly income - Comprehensive medical and life insurance for you and your dependents. You will be receiving company Medicine card and all the paperwork in 2 weeks after successfully completing your probation period. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS: You have to be honest,loyal, responsible and hard-working. You need 5-7 hours during the week for communication. Residential address to receive correspondence (if any). Computer with internet connection. Please, reply to support@gerrybristolinc.com if you are interested and I will send you job details. Thanks Gerry Bristol Gerry Bristol Inc 12 brivas str B 44,, FI-00530 Helsinki, Finland +358 9 1748722 PLEASE, REPLY TO: support@gerrybristolinc.com

Thursday, May 08, 2008

This particular job ad looks like bait for an advance fee fraud scam. In such scams, applicants are readily offered jobs, or at least job interviews, but there are certain fees to be paid up front, such as visa fees. The point of the scam is to extract these payments on the pretext of a job offer. The job does not exist, and the scammer has no connection to the alleged company offering it, assuming that the company isn't a complete fiction in the first place. In this case, the company appears to be fictitious, and there is a facade website (not mentioned in the spam) operating under this name to give it an air of legitimacy. A modest amount of effort has been put into the facade, primarily by plagiarising material from BP. (As evidence, see this Google search, and try searching on other key phrases. BP spouted most of those corporate platitudes first.)

REALISE YOUR DREAM CAREER, WORK WITH ONE OF THE LEADING LIGHTS IN THE INDUSTRY.

WHO WE ARE: McMorris Scan Tech incorporated is a global oil exploration company with over a decade experience in the oil/gas industry.

OUR Profile: We are key player in the global oil and gas industry. The extension of our operations and the need for improved operational efficiency has created new job openings for dynamic, intelligent and resourceful persons to join the company.

OUR CANDIDATES: We are seeking to recruit people with a diverse range of skills, strong professional competence and creative self-confidence regardless of tribe,location,gender or disabilities.

Our corporate culture creates these possibilities for skilled, creative individuals who, as part of a strong value-driven team will help to achieve outstanding business goals.

YOUR SERVICES We are in need of exceptional professional services in the following specialized areas: Engineering, Medicine, Business Management and Social Sciences, Sciences and Environmental Studies.

HOW TO APPLY Interested Individuals should forward their applications and updated resume (CV) within two weeks of this publication to: Head, Staffing Service Division,McMorris Scan Tech at:mcmorrisscantech.oilgascompany@gmail.com

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

This is a typical money mule scam, using a style that I have seen before but am presently too busy to hunt down to a specific entry in my archives. Performing money transfers for unknown parties -- especially those located overseas -- is never a good idea. There may be other domain names in use for this scam, similar to the one documented below. There may also be unrelated and perfectly legitimate businesses using the name "Green Tree" -- please do your own due diligence.

Your resume has been furnished to our company by www.monster.com web-site as one of the best-qualified job-seekers for a position offered.

Our company - Green Tree (Warehousing) Ltd., as a Third Party Logistics provider (3PL), works closely with major Blue Chip Companies & SME's, providing mainstream warehousing and materials handling operations, innovative Supply Chain Solutions, Contract Packing and Distribution. We work closely with ou customers to deliver a flexible package that meets their requirements, and place emphasis on value-adding services of proven quality. Business expertise and a high level of diversity gained over 45 years combine to make "Green Tree" an attractive outsourced solution and versatile business partner.

We are currently looking to recruit a Regional Financial Coordinator to manage payments from the customers based within the limits of his country. You will be our financial intermediary in your local area and will be responsible to remit customer payments for the ordered warehousing or shipping to facilitate and fasten payment receipt at the headquarters of the company. This is a brand new part-time position and has been created to improve supply chain performance for the company as we move into a period of substantial expansion where we will double our current turnover.

The role includes dealing with 2-3 customer payments a week; reviewing the balance of the bank account, where the payment is supposed to be debited to; ensuring precise settlements regarding each payment; transmitting the payments to the Headquarters and subsidiaries of the company by means of instant Western Union payment system and providing regular feedback and reports to the Headquarters Office Manager and Supervisor.

It is essential that the candidate promotes positive/can do attitude and discharges his duties urgently, has literate communicational and PC-user skills to interact with other team members and make external contacts related to the job nature. Successful applicants will need to have a bank account to be used for the customer payments to be debited to, be energetic, enthusiastic and naturally ambitious. This is very much seen as a career progression role that could lead to a management position, so if you are willing to work 1-2 hours a day and be paid on an interest basis (net 10% out of each customer payment you have dealt with) you are welcome to apply now. So if you are looking for a "career of your life" and would like to find out more about the job specification please visit our web-site at http://grntwr.com

Saturday, May 03, 2008

This is an old money mule scam under a new name. The last time I reported on it, they were calling themselves "Cama Sales and Distribution Group". I've probably neglected to document a couple of name changes between then and now, though. The scammers are using a bunch of different Gmail addresses as contact points.

Greetings! Please Take couple minutes and discover for yourself this amazing opportunity from successful company from Italy!

We simply are the best. If you're receiving dozens of offers similar kind, we can assure you that we are the best, we will provide you with excellent help/assistance, and you will make more money than with any other company!

Spending few hours a day Monday-Friday you will be able to make 1100+ AUD, not bad ha? And it's real! It is all based on a taxation loop between countries, that let's you make money and help us out at the same time.

Everything is simple, receive full information, read about it, see how it works, then consider if you are ready to take on this challenge and start making money.

It can be your everyday job as well as the extra income, either one, you will simply love it!

Requirements:

18+ Years Old. 2 Hours a day, Monday-Friday. You must have a mobile/home number we reach you with(just in case, we promise we not going to bother you for no reason). You are responsible and able to check your e-mail 4-5 times a day* You are located in Australia*

Pluses:

No school degree required* No past experience required*

It is a convenient, safe, and best position available today! We are pretty sure you need this. And just by looking it this reference you can consider yourself:

About This Blog

This blog is an offshoot of iDeceive, which documents deceptive Internet activity. For more general information, please go to that blog. All entries posted here are employment scams. If you've received an email that resembles anything posted here, you'd be well advised to assume that the sender wants to exploit you, not employ you.
Scammers often impersonate real companies. Where real company names are mentioned here, you should assume that a scammer is using that identity fraudulently unless you have strong evidence to the contrary.

Need advice?

If you need advice about a possible scam, and you don't want to post a comment on the blog, contact Deception Spotter via email at ideceive@gmail.com.Please include the word "Spotter" in the subject: the message will then be flagged for my attention, and won't be classified as spam. Most relevant correspondence is answered within 24 hours, but no guarantee is offered as this is an unpaid, voluntary public service.

What is a money mule?

The vast majority of job scams seek to recruit money mules, usually under titles like "financial manager", "payment processor", "transaction specialist", or just plain "representative" or even "partner". The job of a money mule is to be a financial middle-man, accepting payment in one form, and forwarding it (minus a fee) to another party, usually via Western Union. Scammers employ money mules to launder money on their behalf: the mule is responsible for converting a fraudulent transaction of some kind into quick, anonymous cash, usually transferred via Western Union or some similar scheme. Scammers send out a lot of job ads for money mule positions and never refuse an applicant because they are disposable: money mules either get ripped off directly (as when they are persuaded to bank a forged cheque or money order which is later dishonoured by the bank), or take the blame for defrauding someone else (as with most payments involving direct bank transfer, PayPal, or similar). Don't make an ass of yourself: don't be a money mule.